After dissatisfied with the Sovtek 6L6WGC vacuum tubes in my Leben CS600, I bought a matched quad new reissue Mullard EL34 from ebay. After break-in them for more than 100 hours, they sounded better than the Sovtek 6L6WGC in my system. Although the bass is not as strong as 6L6WGC, they have beautiful forward midrange which focus more on upper mid and high. In my system, they sounded bright. I also heard sibilance. I listened to Jazz and Pop most of the time and some orchestra occasionally. Vocal’s baritone is very important to me but it is barely audible with the Mullard EL34. Too bad. I really thought these tubes will works in my system. Guess I will be doing more tube rolling.

Below are the photos of these tubes.

These photos are taken using Nikon D600 Full Frame DSLR camera with Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28mm f/1.8G Lens.

The Leben D600 integrated amplifier comes with matched quad stock Sovtek 6L6WGC vacuum tubes. After break-in them for more than 100 hours, they don’t sound good in my system. They have the typical 6L6 sound. Strong bass and extended high with sibilance in my system. The midrange sounded recessed due to strong bass and high. I am using Harbeth M30.1 speakers. M30.1 is a neutral sounding speaker. It very transparent too. My Creek Destiny 2 (solid state) integrated amplifer sounded better than CS600 with Sovtek 6L6WGC. Destiny 2 has a very balance sound with just the right bass, mid and high. And no sibilance whatsoever. It is one of the best value for money integrate amplifier in the market. This means, I will be doing some tube rolling to find the most suitable tubes for my system. Below are the photos of those tubes taken in total darkness.

Sovtek 6L6WGC Vacuum Tubes. This photo is taken with exposure of 15 seconds. This is what the tubes looks like in total darkness.Sovtek 6L6WGC Vacuum Tubes. This photo is taken with exposure of 30 seconds.Sovtek 6L6WGC Vacuum Tubes. This photo is taken with exposure of 68 seconds. Our eyes will never see this kind of colors. This is the fun of photography.